AXA Equitable Holdings Inc., the U.S. arm of the French insurer
AXA SA,
plans to begin showcasing itself to investors next week for what would be the biggest U.S.-listed IPO of the year so far, measured by amount of money raised.

AXA Equitable Holdings is planning to set an initial price range for its IPO early next week, people familiar with the process said. It hopes to raise roughly $4 billion and will seek a valuation of roughly $12 billion in the offering, the people said. The company is expected to start trading in the first week of May.

AXA Equitable Holdings is one of America’s oldest life insurers, founded in 1859 in New York, and was long known as Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U.S. AXA acquired it in 1992.

After announcing the XL deal, Paris-based AXA said it would accelerate existing plans to split off its large U.S. life-insurance business in a public offering. That division owns a majority stake in AllianceBernstein, a money manager that has struggled recently against competition from cheaper index funds.

Ahead of the deal, AXA was planning to raise less in the IPO of its U.S. arm—roughly $2.5 billion—but decided to increase its target for proceeds to help finance the deal, one of the people said.

So far this year, Brazilian financial technology company
PagSeguro Digital Ltd.
, which raised $2.6 billion, is the largest U.S. IPO by deal value, according to Dealogic.

—Leslie Scism contributed to this article.

Appeared in the April 21, 2018, print edition as 'AXA’s U.S. Arm Revs Up for Offering.'